The masked girl statue depicts a masked bust of the Virgin Mary. The exact date of creation of the veil sculpture is not yet certain, but it is likely to have been created in the early 1850s. Marble statues with veils are famous for their almost translucent quality.
The story of a marble statue wearing a veil
For thousands of years, sculptors have been using marble to make statues, a material highly praised for its smoothness and translucency. These characteristics make metamorphic materials an ideal choice for sculptures that require fine details, such as complex anatomical structures and flowing curtains. The statue of the Virgin Mary with a veil by Italian sculptor Giovanni Strazza effectively depicts both situations.
Little is known about the development of veil statues. Historians believe that Strazza, born in Milan, created this sculpture while residing in Rome in the 1850s.
The Virgin Mary appears in the veil sculpture, wrapped around her accurately drawn facial features. The woman closed her eyes and lowered her head, looking either silently praying or expressing condolences, both of which are common in the depiction of the Virgin Mary.
The statue is made of Carrara marble, a stone from Tuscany, traditionally used by Roman architecture and Italian Renaissance craftsmen.
This high-quality Carrara marble provides the ideal material for making veil statues, which is a common theme of Giovanni Strazza and his contemporaries. They are particularly fond of carving busts and female statues, with their faces hidden under transparent clothing.
There is little information about Giovanni Strazza's life. This sculptor from Italy comes from the city of Milan. From 1840 to 1858, he flourished in Rome after studying at the Brera Academy in Milan. From 1860 to 1875, he moved back to Milan and gave lectures at his alma mater, transferring the position of Sculpture Chairman to Giovanni Strazza.

Masked Girl Statue (circa 1850s)
Giovanni Strazza, a famous Italian sculptor, created this figure in perfect Carrera marble in Rome. Other sculptures of Giovanni Strazza can be seen at the Archbishop's Palace in Milan and the Vatican Museum. The Newfoundlanders marked this veiled sculpture as Strazza's second work with the theme of a masked woman. Nationalism in Italy resurfaced in the mid-19th century, and there was also a revival of patriotism in Italian music and art.
The masked statue of Strazza is in line with the tradition of the Italian nationalist art revival movement.
The photo of the woman wearing a veil is a favorite theme of Strazza's other sculptors, with the most famous being Rafaello Monti and Pietro Rossi. The image of a masked lady is often considered to represent Italy, just like Britannia represents England, Hebnia represents Ireland, and the Statue of Liberty represents North America.

The bust of sculptor Giovanni Strazza (1818-1875), located on the loggia on the first floor of the Brera Palace in Milan, Italy
Similar marble busts of masked women can also be seen in North America, Canada, Ireland, and England. However, no one is as meticulously crafted as Giovanni Strazza's veil sculpture: facial features and hair weaving are clearly visible through a marble veil. In 1856, the veiled statue was sent to Newfoundland, as Bishop John Thomas Malloch reported in his diary on December 4: "Giovanni Strazza safely sent a lovely marble statue with the veil of the Virgin Mary from Rome. The face was covered, but the figure and features were completely visible. This is a perfect work of art.".

The Traditional Use of Veils in Sculpture
Why was the veil so popular among Italian craftsmen in the 19th century? One explanation why these characters appreciate this theme is that it allows them to showcase their artistic abilities. It takes a high level of skill to create the illusion that solid substances such as stones are a flowing cloth stuck to a person.
Therefore, sculptors have draped their figures in curtains since ancient times to highlight their sculptural abilities.
The sculptures of the Hellenistic and Italian Renaissance periods are the most famous examples of this phenomenon. Undoubtedly, they became the driving force for Strazza and his colleagues. From an archaeological perspective, this veiled statue originated from the practice of 'wet curtains' that already existed in Greek art, "pointed out the Dean of the Louvre Academy.
During this period, artists explored the theme of the veil in response to the Renaissance movement or Italian unification, and combined it with neoclassicism to reinterpret the veil. With the Italian people's renewed understanding of art and culture, the photo of the masked lady has become a metaphor for a unified country.

The statue was relocated to Canada
Although one may expect this famous masked statue to remain in Italy, it has been living in Canada for nearly 150 years. The sculpture was brought to Newfoundland and found its location in St. John's Church in 1856, when it was accepted by the bishop and installed in the Anglican Palace. Marlock praised his new asset in his diary, writing: "Obtained safely from Rome, the marble statue of the Virgin Mary of Strazza." He continued, "The face is blurry, but the form and features are completely visible... This is a flawless art piece
It relocated to the nearby Presentation Convention in 1862 and has been there ever since, attracting tourists.

Giovanni Strazza's (c. 1850s) sculpture of the Virgin Mary with a veil, located in the Speech Monastery of St. John's Cathedral in Canada